Tiffany-type lampshades generally comprise a plurality of small pieces of stained glass secured to one another by copper foil or lead came to form a desired shape and design. The expense of purchasing finished lampshades of this type has led to the popularity of kits and molds which facilitate home fabrication of Tiffany-type lampshades. In the past, these kits have included expensive and bulky molds upon which the fabricator assembled an entire shade. When using these molds, it is necessary for the fabricator to rotate relative to the mold, or vice versa, to assemble an entire lampshade.
More recently, lightweight sectional forms have been developed which allow a fabricator to assemble a lampshade in sections which are then connected together when all sections are complete. Lightweight sectional forms of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,872,574 and 3,963,233, to H. L. Worden. The disclosures of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference. Sectional forms of this type are constructed by taking a solid mold with an outer surface of a desired shape and cutting a pie-shaped section out of it. The mold is shaped so that the sectional forms will stand upright on a table. A pattern, or "cartoon," as they are known in the trade, is permanently affixed on the outer surface of the sectional form. The cartoon is comprised of color-coded regions to indicate the color of glass which the fabricator is to place on each portion of the sectional form. Each section of the lampshade is assembled by placing individual pieces of cut glass corresponding in size and color to the regions of the cartoon and connecting each piece to the surrounding pieces using copper foil or lead came.
Although these sectional forms have many advantages over the bulky molds which preceded them, they still have several drawbacks. Once a fabricator has purchased a given sectional form, for example, he may make only one lampshade design from that form. Additionally, retailers of such sectional forms must maintain a large inventory in order to stock a wide variety of designs. As both the shape of the form and the design on the form may vary, it is difficult for a retailer to offer the selection desired by the fabricator/hobbyist. This is especially true because retail outlets for the sectional forms are often small hobby shops.
Another drawback of existing sectional forms is that they are not well adapted to permit a fabricator/hobbyist to fabricate a lampshade of his or her own design.
Yet another drawback of existing sectional forms is that the design of the completed lampshade is necessarily a repetition of a smaller design. If the sectional form is one-fifth of an entire mold, for example, the design of the completed shade will be a repetitious pattern of five smaller designs.